This invention relates to a system for measuring, testing and accounting for fluids, preferably oil in a tank battery. Field production and/or inventory status are subject to error because of inaccurate and non-verifiable methods of measurement and reporting. It has been estimated by industry sources that approximately 2% of all oil production is lost in the field before any permanent record of this production is made. Approximately 90% of those losses are never detected and of those losses that are detected few are reported. The primary feature, common to most losses is "under-reporting." Further, upsets in heater/treater systems, overflow conditions in tanks, pump failures and other problems may under normal conditions go undetected for lengthy periods and thus cause significant losses to occur. Further, the failure to compensate for volume variance due to temperature variance in the oil may cause as much as a two to three percent variance in the amount of oil accounted for at the tank battery. Further, a common short coming of tank batteries comprises their lack of an accurate means for measuring the basic sediment and water content of the oil which is being sold to the consumers.
Another problem involves the recent enactment of Federal Regulations which will require for all operators a satisfactory lease site security plan for all Federal and Indian leases. Whether the leases are Federal or fee, remote lease storage tanks have proven to be the best place to steal oil for the following reasons:
(1) Oil volumes at the tank battery are quite often as yet undocumented;
(2) Fluctuations in production enable the hiding of such theft;
(3) There are a large number of remote unattended battery sites thus limiting the amount of patrolling possible thereof; and
(4) At any given moment, there are many vehicles on any particular lease which are capable of transporting oil, and it is difficult to prove whether or not oil has been stolen by one of these vehicles.
The following prior art is known to applicant: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,665,167, 3,673,569, 3,975,622, 4,064,501, 4,229,798, 4,248,087, 4,264,788, 4,301,444 and 4,340,938.